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History

Learn about the history of the team, from its founding in 1959 all the way to its current status as one of America’s premier collegiate rugby clubs.

Soiled Meat and Sand

In the late 1800’s, intercollegiate athletics started to take shape on campuses across the United States. The University of Michigan’s rugby and football teams share the same origin, as the early games in the 1800’s were a mix of both sports. The first edition of the campus newspaper, the Michigan Daily, was issued on Monday, September 29, 1890. It included an article about the rugby team preparing to play Cornell on a trip to the east coast. The article is the origin of Michigan Rugby’s motto: Soiled Meat and Sand.

The University of Michigan’s 1889 rugby/football team

Rugby at Michigan slowly transformed into football, and rugby faded from campus during the early 1900’s.

Rugby’s Return

In 1959, Bert Sugar (the famous boxing writer) wanted to start a rugby club at Michigan after reading about Harvard and Yale’s teams. He put an ad in the Michigan Daily to attract players, and gathered a group of 10 to 20 guys (only some of whom were students) for a scrimmage at Ferry Field. Mike Burrows, the team’s first captain, was in attendance. After a successful scrimmage, the club scheduled its first game against the University of Toronto. The Men in Blue started out on the right foot with a 10-0 victory at Wines Field, which is now Elbel Field.

The club continued to play Canadian teams–as well as a few Californian teams during a memorable road trip–in the first few years until more clubs in the midwest took up the sport. In the Spring of 1964, MRugby participated in the Midwest Rugby Festival in Lincoln Park, and the club had enough players to field both a Maize and a Blue squad. Rugby at Michigan was here to stay.

Rise to Prominence

Between undergraduates and local residents, Michigan Rugby grew in numbers, sometimes fielding up to five sides for a Saturday match. In the 1970s, ’80s, and ‘90s, the team played over 1,300 matches and won about 65% of them. Accomplishments include being crowned the Southwest Ontario champions in 1965 as well as winning a number of Big Ten championships. Michigan won A-division Big Ten titles in 1979 and 1982 while winning both the A and B-division titles in 1978, 1983, and 1984. The Wolverines also won the Michigan Cup several times in the 1980s and ‘90s.

From 1989 to 1994 Michigan played Division I club rugby in the United States. In the 1994-1995 season, the Wolverines played in Division II, where they went undefeated and won a national title, beating San Fernando RFC by a score of 46-27 in the championship game. Michigan Rugby also made the national rugby 7s tournament in both 1994 and 1995. After another two successful seasons in Division I, Michigan moved back to Division II for the 1997-98 season, where it remained until the club split into separate collegiate and men’s teams in 2000.

Michigan’s 1995 rugby 7s team

Modern Day

In 2000, the college team was officially its own entity and not part of Ann Arbor’s city rugby club, as it had been. Mike Livanos was named captain and in the following fall, the team qualified for the Midwest Division 2 Playoffs with a last minute drop-goal victory over Grand Valley. The team qualified again in 2003. In 2004, Michigan completed an undefeated fall season en route to a Midwest Division 2 championship with a 15-3 victory over Bowling Green. Michigan eventually lost in the national semi-finals against Humboldt State in the spring.

2005 saw the team qualify for Midwest Division 1 playoffs and in 2006, it qualified for the Division 2 playoffs again. In 2007, the team won the Midwest Division 2 Championship for a second time with a 23-19 win over St. John’s (Minnesota). Michigan lost in the national quarter-finals to Radford the following spring. This success pushed the team up into Division 1 league play until moving back to Division 2 in 2009.

In 2011, Matt Trenary, the current head coach, took over. He immediately led the team into the playoff scene at the Division 2 level. In the fall of 2012, the club began competing in the Big Ten at the Division 1A level, the highest tier of American collegiate rugby. The team’s brightest moment was beating Michigan State. In 2013, the club finished second in the Big Ten, losing to Indiana (who later vacated the title because it broke player eligibility rules). 2013’s victory over Ohio State was a significant benchmark for many.

Michigan’s 2011 team photo

In the spring of 2014, Michigan placed fifth in the Big Ten and attended the Collegiate Rugby Championship rugby sevens tournament. The Wolverines won their pool, in part through a victory over Ohio State on national television.

Brandon Sparks took over for Trenary in the fall of 2014. Michigan finished fourth in the Big Ten in the fall, and then third the following spring. Once again, the club advanced to the Collegiate Rugby Championship quarter finals, losing to Cal. In 2015, MRugby lost in a heart-breaker to Ohio State, getting held up in the try zone of what would have been the game-winning try. In 2018, Michigan and Michigan State competed in the first-ever “Battle for the Mitten.” It took place at Jackson Field (home of the Lansing Lugnuts baseball team) in front of 1,500 fans. After a disappointing 2018-2019 season, Matt Trenary returned as coach in 2019. Trenary revitalized the club, leading Michigan to a fourth-place Big Ten finish, and the first win over Michigan State in three years.

Michigan’s 2019 team photo

Michigan Daily: September 29, 1890

Michigan’s rugby team featured prominently in the first-ever issue of the University’s campus newspaper.

Michigan Rugby’s First Game

Michigan Rugby’s first game was in the spring of 1959 against the University of Toronto. It took place at Wines Field, which is now Elbel Field, in Ann Arbor. Michigan won 10-0.

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